


Gutsohn Rudolf

by tod_von_mii



Series: Raison d'être [8]
Category: Elisabeth - Levay/Kunze
Genre: A multilingual dad joke, Der Tod is a fanfic writer too, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Writing a fix-it fic for your kid is S-rank parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25042243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tod_von_mii/pseuds/tod_von_mii
Summary: Der Tod didn't expect to be the parent of three demigod children, let alone the primary parent to two of them, but that's life for you.
Relationships: Rudolf von Österreich-Ungarn | Rudolf Crown Prince of Austria & Der Tod | Death (Elisabeth)
Series: Raison d'être [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813564
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Gutsohn Rudolf

Rudolf was very young when he had his first encounter with Herr Thanatos. That night, his throat was sore enough to keep him awake. He was too focused on his pain to be scared when the image of a man floated through the door like it was air and eventually hovered over the bed.

"Who are you?" he croaked out.

"I am a friend, and I have many names. One of my favourites is Thanatos."

"Herr Tanatos?"

Herr Thanatos smiled in a way that seemed to make his eyes sparkle. "That might become my new favourite. My occupation is guiding people to the afterlife."

Fear shot through Rudolf like a bullet, and his heartbeat doubled in speed.

"Oh, no. I didn't mean to frighten you," Herr Thanatos whispered as he gently covered Rudolf's trembling hand with his sturdy, cool one. "It is not your time to die. Besides, I want to help you live." He reached into a pocket with his other hand, revealing a moonstone. "This is for you. Whenever you grip it and think of me, I will come. Just don't tell anyone about me, except your mother."

"Nobody else would listen."

That earned him an affectionate hand squeeze.

Nobody else was quite like him. That statement was as true for Rudolf as it was for Herr Thanatos.

Father loved Rudolf, but every act of affection seemed bundled with a footnote, usually an _if only_ , and sometimes a gruff yet indulgent smile.

Grandmother said she loved him, and that she only treated him the way she did because she loved him and wanted him to be prepared to rule an empire.

Herr Thanatos took Rudolf as he was. But if Rudolf was overcome by one of his episodes, the ones that seemed to never end, instead of recoiling like he was a rabid animal, or lecturing him about how he had to be strong instead of weak, he could make a fist around the moonstone, and his friend would hold him until it passed.

"You don't think I'm calling for you too much?" he asked once, in between sobs. "I'm already six years old, and a future emperor."

"I come because you need me," Herr Thanatos stated simply. "And this is nothing new. When you were an infant, you would start to calm down the moment I held you."

"You- oh?"

"As I told your mother, His Imperial Highness made his preferences clear. Certain people find my presence very soothing, such as you and her, but your older sister and the Kaiser dislike it."

"Does Grandmother like you?"

He laughed. "Not in the slightest."

Rudolf was strange. Everyone knew it, including himself. He liked rocks and birds and books, but those were his more benign eccentricities.

The dying fascinated him, gave him a strange sense of peace. Perhaps knowing he was alive and they almost weren't was enough to make him feel invincible.

When he whispered that to Mama on one quiet Christmas (she had given him a chunk of onyx as big as his fist), she approved, albeit in her cordial but distant "if it makes you happy" way, with the caveat that one could only display a certain number of quirks before suffering acute consequences. Similarly, Herr Thanatos advised him not to do so in front of too many people, but otherwise approved, even letting him watch as he helped souls cross over.

Once, Herr Thanatos guided a boy Rudolf's age out of his body, after changing Rudolf's appearance with a quick hand wave so he wouldn't be recognized.

"So you're the Grim Reaper," the boy observed, "but you don't have a scythe or look like a skeleton."

"That is so. I can appear however I wish to appear."

"You look like... him." The ghost pointed at Rudolf. "Who is he?"

Herr Thanatos made a sound between a laugh and a cough. "He is a young friend of mine."

As Rudolf grew, his friend appeared more and more often, in the strangest of ways. A tutor would be brought to the Hofburg to teach him, only for the tutor to reveal himself to be Herr Thanatos in disguise once they were behind closed doors.

It wasn't the curriculum of the tutors that Herr Thanatos objected to so much as their methods of instruction. They didn't understand people like him or his mother, whose emotions were like wild horses, and couldn't be tamed, just trained.

"You are very different from the Kaiser. They would try to make you into a small him, and upon failing, they would take out their frustration on you."

"They would refuse to see... that the apple fell far from the tree?" Rudolf attempted.

Herr Thanatos's smile showed his teeth, making him look slightly shark-like. "Or that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, but the tree in question is not the tree they're thinking of."

The story of Gevatter Tod was so scary, Rudolf hated it more than he had hated any work of fiction before! It was just a story, and he was going to be a grown man very soon, but the fear he felt was too real. Here was a young man, given the ability to make himself happy and help others, dying for his disobedience. And while doing what he thought was right, he displeased someone who he loved and looked like an ungrateful swine. It was an all-too familiar situation for the prince.

When a fortnight had passed and the tale was still haunting his daily thoughts, Rudolf explained what had happened to Herr Thanatos, who grit his teeth in response.

"Who - told you - that?" he seethed.

"One of Grandmother's ladies."

"She has a habit of harming people without meaning to do so. She thinks that if she was able to survive by becoming cold and harsh, you should as well. That you should be an automaton, doing as you are told." With every word, Herr Thanatos's eyes darkened and he clenched his fist tighter. "Perhaps children who will indiscriminately break rules, regardless of the reasons behind them, need to hear that, but it just scares you into a crying fetal ball." His face softened, and he opened his hand to let it rest on Rudolf's shoulder. "A double insult to you, with your soft heart of gold."

Rudolf looked down at his chest, where his heart was, then gave Herr Thanatos a small smile. "And a soft heart isn't a bad thing for a _doctor_ , right? Since they help people?"

"Not at all. And I have a better version of that story just for you, called Gutvatter Tod. Would you like to hear it?"

"Only if it has a happy ending."

"Of course it does. A boy, let's call him Karl, needed a godfather, and Death himself took the job. When Karl became a man, Death told his godson that he was going to become a successful doctor, with the help of a herb that could heal anyone who could be healed. In that case, Death would stand at the head of the patient's bed. But if Death appeared at the foot, they couldn't be saved.

"One patient, a long-suffering girl named Eva, was fated to die, but Karl was so moved by the family's story that he fed Eva the herb anyway. She didn't survive, but Karl made sure her passing was as peaceful as possible, and comforted the family expertly. Death congratulated him for his bravery in testing the rules himself and, most importantly, his kindness towards the girl. Anyone could feed the herb to a patient, but Karl's bedside manner in the face of failure was what made him a physician. He went on to have a long and happy life, and at the end of it, he was welcomed into the afterlife by Death and Eva."

Rudolf felt a wave of warmth wash over him, like crawling into bed after a long day. "Could you be my godfather, Herr Thanatos?"

He smiled like he was reminded of something wonderful and beautiful. "No, but I will be your goodfather."


End file.
